How well do you understand the mechanics of a good golf swing?

[Canary_Yellow]

Im still of the opinion that the speed can go in at the end once you have a handle on the other things.

Im lead to believe these days young players are being taught, in the US at least, to smash the ball first then they will try to control it after that.

Suppose there is probably merits in both approaches.

I'm with you Gary, I think a good technique leads to speed.

I think the focus on speed first and accuracy second is more for elite juniors, isn't it? I.e. those that already have a sound technique. It would surely be bonkers to tell someone that has never picked up a club to swing as fast as they can.

 

[Yant]

Easier said than done, but most club players would benefit from forgetting about speed and just focus on crisp contact and direction. Speed will come on its own if the club is in the right place at the top of the backswing. The old saying "i hit it further when i don't try to hit it further" is true.

But where's the fun in that, eh? 'ave it.

 

[Foxholer]

I know Kaz 🙁 I need to have a serious word with myself and try to get myself more competitive and ensure that it becomes the be all and end all and puts food on my table

:rofl:
That's when it will all go wrong!

There's a massive difference between talented amateur/handicap golfers and golfers that can make a living playing the game!

There are probably 3 further 'levels' to reach before an amateur off, say 2/3, should consider becoming a full-time playing Pro!

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I'm with you Gary, I think a good technique leads to speed.

I think the focus on speed first and accuracy second is more for elite juniors, isn't it? I.e. those that already have a sound technique. It would surely be bonkers to tell someone that has never picked up a club to swing as fast as they can.

I think you need to learn speed young and whilst learning to play early on, as to gain speed later on is much harder(once the brain has been hard wired/used to swinging at x speed). Some people are just faster and some need to learn how to swing faster.

I can swing the club many different ways(arms, body, hands, upright, flat etc) but the swing speed is about the same, technique does not really affect swing speed apart from a few mph. I think technique affects ball speed and launch conditions a lot and how you swing in 'balance/looking effortless'. I did speed training and gained about 10mph but it took me about 15 months to then learn how to control the speed afterwards and relearn were the club face was again. To gain the other 5-15 mph that my practise swings have, has been lot harder to gain when hitting the ball.

The earlier in life, the better to learn speed in my eyes and from my personal experience.

Back to the original post, love reading and watching about the golf swing, find it really interesting etc but me personally I am very much a feel player. I put into play and subscribe to feeling golf. So for instance if I was going to kick a football I wouldn't be thinking about bending my knee, turning my hip etc mid kick. I would just look at the ball and think what I want to do(high, low, slice) and think of the target and do it and with practise you get better at it, as you know the feeling that brings that kind of shot. I play sport for fun.

Therefore I do not apply what I read or watch to my swing, my swing is terrible tbh, I sway, lose height, overswing, snatch at the ball, fall back on my back foot and so on but still have shot a couple of sub par rounds and a lot of low to mid 70s rounds with it(just wish I had the same chipping now as I had before I stopped playing for 10 years).

 

[Imurg]

1 - no idea and no inclination to find out , the whole bores the hell out of me , tee up ball , hit ball , walk after it then hit it again. The less information the better. Far too many technical people who try and learn all about the swing theory wise but their head is so full of swing thoughts they fail to relax to actually hit the ball and enjoy the game

Wave bat, hit ball, find it, repeat.

These two work for me.......

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I was once damned by faint praise by my teaching pro who once said....you've been able to reach a good standard (6/7 h'cap) because you have the ability to get the club back to the ball as it was at address....in spite of what happens with the swing in between!!!!! (However to progress further downwards I needed to really fix the swing in between!!!)

That's me. Though I got down to 6 many, many moons ago I knew that my swing had severe limitations that would stop me getting any lower. I was very consistent but could NEVER knock it round in level or that close to it (and still haven't). My best ever knock is was one over - and even back off 6, if I knocked it round in 5 or better that was very rare. I knew my swing was flawed - I didn't know how or why and nobody told me - but I was OK with that.

However, as a result of a couple of lessons two years ago, and a lightbulb moment watching Luke Donald in The Masters this year - I have changed my swing significantly to what it was that got me to 6 - and in last 3 months my handicap has dropped two shots from 10 to 8.

Looking back at my comp stats - from 6th May following my Master's lightbulb moment I had 4x0.1s in a row - as I worked on what the pro had taught me and with what I had seen LD do. it was feeling fine but I was not really focussing on my scoring - just my striking. Then suddenly on 3rd June I was under handicap - and in the 3 months since then a continual steady improvement - to where I am today

And this time I have a very strong feeling there is more in the tank.

Now whether that will ever get me back to 6 I do not know - never mind Cat1 - but certainly my understanding of a couple of important mechanics of the swing and me being able to put them into practice - is working.

 

[bobmac]

Some say hit it hard then learn how to hit it straight, some say the opposite.
All I am saying is speed is one of the 5 parts of the swing that has a direct influence on the ball.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Being able to repeat a good contact is really all I am interested in, and that is what I struggle with. How it gets there must be an irrelevance, just as long as it gets there.

 

[Qwerty]

Could learning the Mechanics of the swing be beneficial to a single figure golfer, Or would they be better off just fully trusting a good pro and rely totally on his instruction.?

Also do tour pros fully understand the mechanics of the swing?

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Also do tour pros fully understand the mechanics of the swing?

Since they dont seem to fully know the rules (or many dont) I dont think fully understanding swing mechanics are high on the list.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Since they dont seem to fully know the rules (or many dont) I dont think fully understanding swing mechanics are high on the list.

I think they have a very good understanding of their own swing, but given anyone that is THAT good must take to the game very naturally indeed, I doubt they need to really understand the mechanics as they're doing the fundamental bits already.

 

[garyinderry]

Also do tour pros fully understand the mechanics of the swing?

I'm sure most of them have a grasp of it being in and around the game so much.

Some love go go deep into it. Others not so much.

Butch harmon tells a story of Dustin Johnson playing with Mickelson and dechambeau in a practice round. After about 2 holes Dustin said wasn't going to talk to either of them for the rest of the round as he couldn't listen to their swing talk or he wouldn't be able to break 100.

Some of the other pros like dufner and rose love their trackman and always practice with it through the bag.

Butch laughed when he heard some coaches nearly fell over when they heard DJ got himself a trackman. :rofl: he only uses it purely to dial in his wedges. Other than that he isn't interested.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Being able to repeat a good contact is really all I am interested in, and that is what I struggle with. How it gets there must be an irrelevance, just as long as it gets there.

But how do you know how to get it there without understanding what you should be doing inbetween?

I don't think it necessarily requires a deep technical understanding, but what approach do you take to learning? Just go and see a pro and trust exactly what they tell you to do? Learn about the detailed fundamentals? Something else?

 

[Deleted member 23270]

I believe it is more important to manage your ball than trying to change or manipulate your flight. If you swing out to in and fade or slice the ball then so what, aim left to compensate. A lot of players would lower their handicaps if they played to what they have rather than getting all technical and trying to change their swing to something that isn't natural to them.

 

[nickjdavis]

What's your plan for fixing the inbetween? I.e. how are you going to learn to improve whatever needs to be improved?

I never did. This was about 4 years ago. I'm now off 9.

(Though a period of Vice and Captaincy at my club didnt do a great deal in allowing me to focus on my golf so that handicap naturally went up a bit anyway).

There must be some good bits to my swing as I'm quite capable of putting very good rounds together when out practicing....last nights 71 a case in point....3 bogies, 2 birdie and 13 consistent pars....and I've shot loads of scores in the low 70's and even a 67 and a 69 this summer off the yellow tees.

Made a couple of slight adjustments last night based on an offhand comment made by a local clubfitter when I went to see him to get my lofts and lies checked....seemed to help so might go back to the pro and have a few sessions during this winter....maybe 2018 might be my year for finally breaking the Cat 1 glass floor!!!!

 

[dewsweeper]

Don't tell me you're one of those that plays for fun

What the heck has "fun " got to do with golf?

 

[Curls]

What the heck has "fun " got to do with golf?

Fun? What is this, "fun" you speak of?

 

[NWJocko]

1 and that's being generous!!! 😂

 

[Imurg]

I'm sure most of them have a grasp of it being in and around the game so much.

Some love go go deep into it. Others not so much.

Butch harmon tells a story of Dustin Johnson playing with Mickelson and dechambeau in a practice round. After about 2 holes Dustin said wasn't going to talk to either of them for the rest of the round as he couldn't listen to their swing talk or he wouldn't be able to break 100.

Some of the other pros like dufner and rose love their trackman and always practice with it through the bag.

Butch laughed when he heard some coaches nearly fell over when they heard DJ got himself a trackman. :rofl: he only uses it purely to dial in his wedges. Other than that he isn't interested.

Check out @StrackaTredss Tweet: https://twitter.com/StrackaTreds/status/876089070534918144?s=09
DJ knows the score.......

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I am becoming more confident in increasing the length and speed of my swing as what I am doing new beds in - and the more it seems to work. One thing I have been told often over the years is that i have 'fast hands' - whatever that means; whether it is that good - or whether it was just what I had to develop to compensate for major failings elsewhere in my swing.